GPA... as someone said, the grades are a marathon, and the SAT is a sprint - this was actually in regards to the LSAT, but still holds true. An excellent GPA with decent SATs will get you a lot further than a decent GPA with excellent SATs.

not true. the SAT is used to measure grade inflation. if you have a 4.0 and an 1100 on the SAT, most universities will think your grades were easy to achieve since the national standard (SAT) says you're school isn't hard. so even if you take AP courses, the only way you can prove your grades aren't inflated are by scoring fives on the exam, which diminishes the importance of the SAT.